Auteur Watch - Brandon Holland

...well, THAT was a waste.  I don't normally use the "Auteur Watch" segment to jam a movie review into it, but you gotta make exceptions sometimes, especially with a film-type substance called "XXI: O'Day."  Perhaps available at your local library!  That's where I found my copy of it.  I'll confess!  The enigmatic title hooked me right away, even if the amateurish-looking DVD cover was trying to warn me.  "Don't do it!  Don't waste your time and effort!" it seemed to be saying.
Okay, I'll try to be more positive, and I know it wasn't the actors' fault.  But you do get the full range of bad indie movie acting here, all the way from people who can just barely portray versions of themselves, to semi-pros who just aren't getting paid enough for the full Meryl Streep immersion treatment.  This is the kind of movie that critics really should stay away from, but only because one risks hurting their reputation by drawing attention to something so far below the radar because that's where it belongs.  SPOILER ALERTS ANYWAY.  We start off innocently enough as a Tyler Perry-type vehicle, if one ever dealt with a certain horrible illness which, according to Wikipedia, affects 20 to 70 per 100,000 in different countries... oops!  Well, I did say spoiler alert.  The mother tries to comfort the afflicted daughter with the power of Gospel-inspired prayer, but the daughter has her doubts.  I did like the moment where she just asks in general in a sort of "But really?  Seriously?" kind of way why God has done this to her.  Okay, so amateurish production values aside, I'm still on board.
But then... then... time marches on, ardor cools, bromances at the gym percolate, what have you.  And then, the plot takes a bit of a left turn, or right, depending on your politics.  I'll try not to give anything away, but at some point I felt like I was watching an episode of "Ray Donovan."  Specifically, one of the early ones from Season 6.  I'm sure there's another similar plot out there somewhere... ah yes, let's say it's slightly more subtle than Desperate Measures, and a lot less subtle than "Blood Feud."  Then, at another point later on, we go full on season 6 finale of "Ray Donovan."  I mean, Ray Donovan stretches credulity a little too far, but this...
In describing the plot, this is from the "film"'s IMDb main page: "College Sweethearts, Shannon and Kristian O'Day had their lives ahead of them. When a mysterious illness strikes, the bounds of love are tested."  The bounds of love and sound mixing.  You appreciate the little things in the art du cinema when trying to slog through something like this.
I would like to see "Trashville" at some point, but so far Netflix (TM) (R) (C) or my video store don't have it.  I think I played it on Facebook once, though!  That was pretty cool!  I will give Brandon Holland one bit of technical advice: the end credits.  What's the rush, dude?  The credits go by way too fast, followed by three minutes of silence.  Plus, no credit for any of the songs!  Boo.  Very boo.  I won't make a fuss, but ASCAP might at some point, and you'll get a copyright strike on your YouTube channel.  I definitely heard a version of "O. P. P." in the barbershop sequence.  Um, that $#!t ain't free, dude.

BOMB

-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan